Joseph Earp Links Nolan's 'The Odyssey' to Social Decay Through 1 Foundational Lie
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 24
Joseph Earp Links Nolan's 'The Odyssey' to Social Decay Through 1 Foundational Lie
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 24
Summary
Joseph Earp argues Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” recasts the Trojan Horse as a civilization-breaking act of deceit rather than a clever war trick.
Odysseus’ hidden attack works, Earp writes, only because Troy still trusts gifts, surrender and basic civility—making the horse the film’s “first lie” and a rupture in the social fabric.
The review ties that idea to Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” framing both films around a brilliant man whose solution to a problem unleashes damage he cannot contain.
Earp says the film’s warning lands in a distrustful modern world shaped by AI fakery, political lies and polished corporate cruelty, where even politeness now looks like a fragile social bond.